


Golden

by hopecanbeyoursword



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky still loses his arm, Canon Divergence - Captain America: The First Avenger, Domestic Avengers, Healing, In Which Steve/Bucky and Peggy/Angie exist, M/M, No Winter Soldier, because it was dangerous in their time, first chapter doesn't outright state their relationship, so their relationship is finally defined and stated, steve bucky and tony are going to be good friends in this universe, when they wake up in the new century they realize they can be together in public
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22357981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopecanbeyoursword/pseuds/hopecanbeyoursword
Summary: Bucky fell, but was never captured by Hydra. Instead, he and Steve are both in the plane as it goes down, waking up in the twenty-first century, together. They have healing to do, and Steve has a new team, but it's easier with each other.Title source: "I once believed love would be (Burning red) / But it's golden"
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter & Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	Golden

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hufflebuck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hufflebuck/gifts).



Steve screamed as Bucky fell.

Bucky’s eyes were wide, a startled scream stuck in his chest, struggling to be released. The last thing he remembered before the searing pain starting in his arm, spreading to the rest of his body, was Steve’s blue eyes, horror clear as day.

Then everything was black.

* * *

Not thinking, Steve flung himself out of the train a moment later. He knew Bucky would yell at him for it if he was there, but he didn’t care. He had always been impulsive, jumping into action, not caring about the consequences. It had been worse before the serum, when he was thin, and sickly, and asthmatic. Now, he could usually handle himself.

He knew the right thing to do, for the sake of everyone else, would be to stay on the train, as painful as it would be. Bucky likely didn’t survive the fall. But he couldn’t help but hope that maybe, Bucky was still alive. He needed to know either way. He couldn’t leave, and always have the nagging thought that maybe Bucky had survived the fall, but would die out in the cold.

He knew the fall could kill him. Steve hoped the serum would give him an edge. 

The wind whistled in his ears, freezing his nose and fingers. As he neared the first ridge of the mountains, about three-hundred feet down, he tried to propel his body towards a large pile of snow, hoping it would help break his fall. As he did so, he spotted something near the drop off.

The landing was rough, and pain shot through every inch of Steve’s body. He wanted to scream, but the air had been forced out of his luges on impact. He lay in the freezing snow, feeling it seep through to his skin as he blinked tears of pain out of his eyes,

“Buck?” Steve tried to call out, hoping that what he saw was Bucky. Unable to push himself up into a standing position, he started crawling. His body ached, but the super solder serum had already started working.

“Buck?” Steve reached the mass, both relieved and horrified to find that it was, indeed, Bucky. The man had been severely injured in the fall. His left arm was the worst, and Steve hated to think that it was likely it would need to be amputated at the shoulder. But Bucky was still alive, a faint pulse against Steve’s fingers the best thing in the world at that moment.

Fumbling for his communication radio, Steve kept his eyes on the other man. With shaking fingers, he combed the strands of brown hair with his fingers, trying to calm himself down. He was hoping that the radio hadn’t been crushed, and that someone was listening. He had been in contact with Peggy moments before Bucky had fallen, so he was hoping his friend could send them help.

He was in luck. The radio, while bent, still worked well enough to call for help. Steve had no idea if the person who heard him could help, but he had to hope. Because even with the serum, he was getting cold, and his muscles ached. And Bucky didn’t have the serum, which meant he was in even more danger.

Steve tried to keep his eyes open. But he was tired, and his eyes started to flutter closed. Every time he did, image of Bucky’s broken body would be all he could see. He must’ve hit the face of a cliff on the way down, as his left arm was nearly disconnected from his shoulder. There would be no saving the limb. It was a miracle Bucky was alive, barely breathing. No matter if his eyes were open or closed, all Steve could see was Bucky, injured.

But sleep won the battle, and everything faded away.

* * *

He woke up on a cot. He was the only one in the room, but he could hear people talking in the hallway, their hushed voices too quiet to make out what they were saying. Disoriented, it took Steve a moment to remember what had happened. When he remembered, he tried to sit up, calling out for Bucky. However, when he tried to sit up, a nurse materialized at his side, pushing him back down.

“Where’s Bucky?”

“Captain Rogers.” The nurse gently pushed against his shoulder. “You need to rest.”

“Steve.” A familiar voice stopped Steve from trying to pursue the topic with the nurse. Instead, he turned his head, spotting Peggy walking into the room. “Thank you,” she smiled politely at the nurse. “I’ll take it from here.”

As soon as the nurse left, Steve began bombarding his friend with questions. What injuries he had, how long would they take to heal if they weren’t already healed, how long he had been asleep, who had found them, where was Bucky, what injuries did he have, would he be okay?

Peggy looked composed as she spoke, but Steve knew not to let that be the only indication to both his, and Bucky’s, conditions. Peggy was trained to be calm in tense situations. However, when it came to them, she let more walls down. She was open around him in a way she wasn’t with most others, save for Bucky and Angie. Which is why he also knew that something horrible and irreversible hadn’t happened, either. Because he would be able to see that in her face. Bucky had to still be alive.

“Bucky—” Steve started to speak, but his friend cut him off.

“He’s alive.” The statement was short, to the point. “But he’s in surgery. It was close. If the team hadn’t gotten there when they did, he would be losing more than just his arm.”

Steve swallowed roughly. He knew, when seeing Bucky’s left arm, that it wasn’t going to be good. And losing an arm would mean a lot of consequences. He couldn’t fight at their sides anymore. Not unless he got a fake arm, which Steve guessed Howard Stark would want to work on.

Everything that the Howling Commandos were, that Steve, Bucky, Angie and Peggy were, that he and Bucky were, was going to change.

* * *

Steve was sent back into the field once he was healed, only a day and a half later. Peggy had stepped in when they wanted to send him back out immediately, getting him one extra day. It had been all she could do, but Steve was thankful for it. For her.

He stayed by Bucky’s side, careful with his words and touches. He couldn’t let his fingers linger if anyone besides Peggy was in the room, or if she wasn’t alone. He had to play the front of concerned friend, worried about his fellow soldier. But all he wanted was to hold Bucky’s hand, to run his hands through the familiar brown hair. Find comfort in the way they always did, even when they had to hide, with each other.

When no one was around, courtesy of Peggy, he traced Bucky’s facial features, following the familiar curves and lines. Silently, he leaned forward, placing his forehead against Bucky’s as Steve closed his eyes. He memorized the moment, committing it to memory.

He had to leave soon. There was much more he had to do, and Bucky had to heal. Peggy had promised to tell him where Steve was when he woke up. Both Steve and Peggy knew he would want to follow Steve. The two men were inseparable, and had been since they met. The reasons had changed, from an innocent friendship between two boys, to something that had to be kept a secret for their safety, to keep everything that they had.

One day, Steve hoped that would change. That he and Bucky could be themselves in public, that Angie and Peggy could have the life they wanted with each other.

* * *

They were both in the plane when it went down.

It was five weeks and six days since Bucky had fallen off the train and Steve had followed him, five weeks and three days since Bucky had woken up, and four weeks and one day since Steve had been reunited with him.

It had been Steve’s mission, but Bucky had insisted he go. Both men were extremely stubborn when they had their sights set on something, or when it came to each other.

Bucky and Steve exchanged looks, silently agreeing on what to do. This is not how they expected things to end, but it’s what they had to do. Since they met, they had done almost everything together. This, though, was different. They had always promised each other they would stay together, until the end of the line. And this was it. The end of the line.

But Steve couldn’t let it happen without saying goodbye to Peggy. She had done a lot for them, a lot for him. She had believed in him when others didn’t. She saw past who he was, to see who he could be. Even before the serum, she knew he could be great. And with her and Angie’s help, he and Bucky had been able to be together, in public, without anyone staring at them. The four covered for each other. Steve would accompany Peggy to dances, where they would meet Angie, who would be holding onto Bucky’s arm. No one questioned the four of them, believing Peggy and Steve were enamored with each other, and that the looks Angie and Bucky exchanged were laced with love. Maybe they were, but nothing more than close friendship and camaraderie. It wasn’t Peggy and Steve, and Angie and Bucky. It was, and would be, Peggy and Angie, and Steve and Bucky.

“Come in. This is Captain Rogers. Can you hear me?” Steve spoke into the radio. He knew Peggy was waiting to hear from him. He hoped she was in the room with the operator. If she wasn’t, it might be too late before she could make it there.

“Captain Rogers. What is your loc—” the operator was cut off, his voice replaced by Peggy’s.

“Steve, is that you? Are you alright?”

“Peggy! Schmidt’s dead.”

“What about the plane?”

“That’s a little bit tougher to explain.” Steve glanced at Bucky, who was looking at the dashboard. Bucky wasn’t supposed to be there with him, but had refused to let Steve go alone. Peggy was the only one to know that Bucky was with him, rather than at home, on leave, to recover. She wasn’t happy about it, but knew she couldn’t convince him otherwise. The two men had always been stubborn and determined, especially when it came to each other. It was for this reason that Steve did all the talking, not referring to Bucky by name. They didn’t know if anyone was listening into their conversation.

“Give me your coordinates. I’ll find you a safe landing site.”

“It’s not going to be a safe landing,” Steve admitted as he saw what Bucky was looking at. The dashboard was flashing red, alerting them to the fact that the plane wouldn’t be able to land safely. “But I can try and force it down.”

“I’ll get Howard on the line. He’ll know what to do.”

“There’s not enough time. This thing’s moving too fast, and it’s heading for New York.” Steve paused, exchanging a glance with Bucky. Bucky nodded, squeezing Steve’s hand. New York was their home. It’s where everything had started, and they weren’t going to let it be where everything ended. “We gotta put her in the water.”

“Please, don’t do this.” Peggy didn’t want to lose her friends. Not now, not like this. They deserved to grow old, together. “We have time. We can work it out.”

“Right now, we’re in the middle of nowhere. If we wait any longer, a lot of people are going to die.” Steve paused. “Peggy. It’s our choice.” Steve glanced at Bucky again out of the corner of his eye. Bucky had a grim, yet determined, look on his face. “You and Angie will be alright.” There was silence from the other end of the line. “Peggy?”

“I’m here,” she breathed, trying to force back the tears.

“We’re going to need a rain check on that dance.”

“Alright,” she wiped the tears away. “A week. Next Saturday, at the Stork club.”

“You got it.”

“Eight o’clock, on the dot. Don’t you dare be late. Understood?”

“You know, I still don’t know how to dance.”

“I’ll show you how. Just be there.”

“We’ll have the band play something slow. I’d hate to step on your—”

Peggy’s heart dropped at the sound of static. She couldn’t hear Steve’s voice, or Bucky’s quiet reassurances to the blond anymore. The fuzzy static made her want to scream. Instead, she hoped against everything that this wasn’t the end. “Steve? Bucky?” When no answer came, she let out a strangled cry, tears beginning to spill from her eyes. Just like that, she lost her two best friends.

She sat there, alone, trying to get her breathing out of control. She knew she had to report this, knew she had to tell Angie, but doing so would make it real.

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes weren’t coming back.

* * *

When they were found in the ice, their hands were still gripping onto each other. SHIELD agents bustled around them, some trying to unfreeze them, while others tried to recreate the 1940s. The two men had been frozen for seventy years. Director Fury knew that they would likely see the facade his agents were trying to create, but that was the point. He wanted to see how quick they were, how observant. Every mistake was done on purpose. A baseball game from before they went into the ice. A nurse who, while might look believable as a nurse from the 40s to someone in present day, would be slightly off to the two men. The clothes they were wearing, and a few subtly placed books on the shelf, and a building printed on the fake wall outside the window would be more clues that something was off.

Tony Stark had been called upon their discovery, as it was common knowledge that his father had been close to Steve. Tony didn’t know what to think. He knew the stories, had grown up with his father constantly comparing him to the lost super-soldier. As well, his Aunt Peggy had liked to tell him stories of the two men who had been her friends, who kept her, and his Aunt Angie, safe. From them, he heard stories of the early days, of the smiles and laughs and jokes, rather than the muscles and strength and war. It made them more real, rather than heroes to keep on pedestals. Tony preferred to think of them as the friends Aunt Peggy had fast tracked to agent status so they could be on the wall of honor in SHEILD establishments, rather than the hero who could do no wrong, and his loyal sidekick.

Because of his aunt, Tony knew exactly what kind of relationship the two men had with each other. It didn’t surprise him. He was glad that his aunts had had the two men. Together, the four of them protected each other. They had been family to each other. Much like Rhodey and Pepper were family to him.

Tony went to SHIELD, not for Fury, not for his father, or even for the two men found in ice. Instead, he went for his aunts. For Peggy Carter and Angie Martinelli. The two women who might as well have been his parents. The two women who showed him what family should be. Who taught him about love, about bonds that went beyond laws and rules, and time and space. For the women who could not make it to see their two friends who they believed died seventy years ago.

He was nearby when they woke up.

* * *

Steve wanted to run. He knew the “nurse” wasn’t telling him the truth, and his fight or flight instinct was yelling at him to flee. However, Bucky wasn’t in the right shape  to run. He was still waking up, slower than Steve. He looked confused, dawning only passing his face and he looked down, seeing the missing arm.

So Steve stayed. He wasn’t letting anyone hurt Bucky. He was on edge, placing himself in front of Bucky. As soon as Bucky was up, Steve pulled him behind him, running out of the room. They were confused by the set-up, clearly fake. Having no idea where they were, but knowing something was off, they ran. Steve was faster, but he didn’t run ahead. He stayed close to Bucky, making sure that neither of them were caught off guard.

Until they made it outside, and everything was bright and loud, and nothing like what they remembered. In awe, and a little bit in terror, they looked around. The intersection was busy, and there were huge, bright screens with flashing images on them. Men, women, and children were all dressed differently, and not as modest as they were used to. But the big thing that drew Steve’s attention were the two women holding hands, talking quietly under an awning, and the two men who were publicly expressing their emotions, the taller one pressing a kiss to the other one’s mouth.

Steve didn’t know what to think. Wherever they were, it seemed like the stigma around same-sex couples wasn’t the same anymore. Hope blossomed in his stomach, that he and Bucky could finally be themselves.

He was distracted by them by the cars surrounding them. They were all black, a few with an interesting, and almost familiar, symbol on them. Men and women stepped out of them, approaching cautiously, save for one. One man stepped with purpose, only stopping when he was in front of them. 

The man with the eyepatch spoke to them, words that Steve would never forget.

He and Bucky were alive, yes. But they had been frozen in ice for seventy years. The serum had kept Steve from harm, but they were concerned about Bucky. He didn’t have the serum, so they had no idea how he had survived. They needed to check him over, and they had someone who wanted to make him an arm.

That someone was Tony Stark, son of Howard Stark. Their first meeting was rough, strong personalities clashing. Despite that, Tony seemed to get along better with Bucky, showing up a week later at SHIELD with a metal arm for Bucky, and a letter from Peggy for Steve.

“She and Angie are my aunts,” Tony explained. “Peggy… she has Alzheimers. Angie is looking after her. It’s hard, but they love each other. They had a good life. Things got easier for them, in some ways. They liked to tell stories about you two. About all the good you did, not for the sake of the world, but for each other, for them. They made you feel like real people, unlike my father. You let them love each other. They did so much good after you two went into the ice. Maybe they can’t do a lot for you now. But I’ll try. So, here.” He gave the letter to Steve, before turning to Bucky, asking if he could help fit him with the arm. While they did that, Steve carefully opened the letter.

He read the words slowly, taking it all in. Life was so different now, so it was nice to have a little familiarity. He could go see Peggy and Angie when he was ready. He had Bucky. He would find new friends, confidants, in his new team. He had been asked to join a team Fury had called “The Avengers,” alongside four other names he didn’t recognize, and Tony Stark. Bucky wasn’t cleared for missions, yet, but if he wanted to, when he was completely healed, he would be allowed to join.

Steve looked around the room. He and Bucky had been invited to have dinner with Tony, and some of his friends. At the table, Steve was sat next to Bucky, Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy around them. 

_Maybe the future won’t be so bad._

**Author's Note:**

> I don't normally write much of Steve or Bucky, but hufflebuck gave me a prompt that I wanted to try. Thus, this piece was born. I hope I did them justice.
> 
> This was originally going to be one chapter, but I wanted to end the first part here, and have the second focusing ont their healing with each other, and the Avengers.


End file.
